The Future of Print: Oxford English Dictionary

Anyone who has been to a public or college library, has seen the Oxford English Dictionary right in the middle of the reference section.   Often, the dictionary was displayed on its own stand that almost looked liked a preacher's lectern thereby suggesting some form of reverence for the English Language.  What is usually displayed is the one-volume edition, a mere subset of the multi-volume Oxford English Dictionary.

This weekend, the publisher of Oxford English Dictionary announced that the next edition will be published in digital format only.   Until now the Oxford English Dictionary had been available in both the bound and digital format.   The one volume edition will remain in print.

Facts about the Oxford English Dictionary (Source: OED.com)

• Last printed version (2nd edition) published in 1989.
• Second edition had 22 volumes and 21,730 pages.
• Number of entries in Second edition was 291,500  

Publication Dates (Source: Wikipedia and )

• 1884 - First published  under the title A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles; Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by The Philological Society
• 1895 - First published under the title Oxford English Dictionary
• 1933 - republished as a 12 volume set with a one volume supplement
• 1972 - supplement added for the letter A
• 1976- supplement added for the letter H
• 1982- supplement added for the letter O
• 1986- supplement added for the letter Sea
• 1989 - Second edition published
• 1992 - Version 1 of the CD ROM edition published
• 1993 - Supplement published as Oxford English Dictionary Additions Series
• 1997 - Supplement published as part of Oxford English Dictionary Additions Series
• 1999 - Version 2 of the CD ROM edition published 
• 2000 - Oxford English Dictionary Online edition published as a subscription.  The online edition has been updated quarterly
• 2002 - Version 3 of the CD ROM edition published
• 2007 - Version 3.1.1 of the CD ROM edition published as the first version that could be copied to the user's computer hard drive
• 2009 - Version 4 of the CD ROM edition published as the first version compatible with both Windows 7 and Mac OS operating systems